Friday, April 17, 2015

Anime Matsuri Day -1: Arrival, Sanrio and Galleria!

Anime Matsuri? Like... In Houston, Texas? How did I even end up getting there? To make a long story short, several Kawaii Ambassadors from all over the world were invited to the first Japan Lolita Association summit. I was one of the lucky girls having the chance to attend the Anime Matsuri x JLA first collaboration, along with Cadney (Canada), Daniela (Mexico), Kitsune (Taiwan), Nadine (Canada) and Ruby (Hong Kong). I wish all of the ambassadors and especially my French workmates could have been there, hanging around together, have some fun, meet so many new people~ It was overall a great experience, thanks to my dear friends, my fellow ambassadors and all those room parties, haha!

My flight to Houston was pretty long and boring (worst selection of movie ever) but I'm not too difficult and I can sleep anywhere, so I think I spent 80% of my time sleeping. I woke up just in time when we were flying over Canada: so many beautiful landscapes!!

Flying above Canadian lakes!

By chance, my flight landing was planned on Wednesday, a little after Kate's flight and a little before Cadney's one! That meant the wonderful Brookelle and Erinne could pick us up at Houston Intercontinental Airport~ I can't even tell you how glad I was not to be lost all alone — we learnt very late that Anime Matsuri's staff could pick us up so in the meantime Cadney already arranged Brookelle's pick up. YAY FOR BROOKELLE (and her car)! ♡

We arrived inside Houston by the beginning of the evening, so we quickly went to Galleria. What is Galleria? Well, it's basically the biggest shopping mall I've ever seen in my life! So many floors and stores, it felt like an endless walk to go from on side to the other. Some of us went to Sanrio Shop (where I bought the cutest pen ever), while some others went to buy some cosmetics. I wish I had time to do both! French Sephora are desperately empty of American products (Too Faced, I'm looking at you).

I wish we had Sanrio stores as well in Paris!

I was so tired that I unfortunately don't have a lot of picture from Wednesday. I preferred taking time to get to know better all the ladies that I was meeting for the first time~ I was so happy that Becky could join us for dinner! Few months ago, I was looking for roommates during my journey in Houston and she kindly proposed me not only her room during Anime Matsuri but also her house before and after Anime Matsuri (;w;) Since then, we've been talking on Facebook quite frequently~ I was really super excited to meet her! ♡

Kate, Cadney, Erinne, Brookelle and I waiting for our dinner's reservation.Picture by Cadney

We went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (I was glad to learn that no, they don't serve cheesecake only) and we ordered bunch of very healthy food like fried mac and cheese, fried cheese, burgers, ... Let me tell you I was already enjoying my Houston stay a little too much. My first meet with mac and cheese is something I will never forget.

After that delicious dinner, Cadney, Erinne and Kate went back with Brookelle at her house while Beck and I... got lost in Galleria. Galleria closes pretty early actually, but the restaurants stay open which mean it's kinda difficult to find a way out after diner... I think we walked inside Galleria for like 30 minutes until we finally find a way out to (not so) fresh air (;__;) Happily, Aaron (Becky's boyfriend) was here to pick us and go by car to Becky's house~

I felt like Becky, Aaron and myself were already tired by the week that was waiting for us, haha~ The despair of knowing how long it would be pack and un-pack, the nonexistant hours of sleep, the heat and humidity of Houston while working at a con, ... Do you feel how brave we are already? Haha~ Becky was kind enough to lend my her own room, thank you again dear! I really wasn't expecting so much ;w; We packed, we talked, we laughed, we packed again and finally went to bed at a not so decent hour. Few hours of sleep before going to the Hilton and Anime Matsuri convention center for Day 0 a.k.a rehearsal day!

Thank you for reading and see you soon for the Anime Matsuri report, second part~